Over the course of the last few Point of Convergence episodes, we’ve been exploring how the complexity, nuance—and sometimes downright inconvenient nature—of the UFO Phenomenon data, ultimately serves to invite us into a series of questions that not only inform our inquiry into our place in the cosmos—in other words, are we alone or not—but also—and more importantly—even deeper questions, about who we ultimately are, and what the nature of this—our shared experience of what we call “reality”—is actually all about.

In today’s episode we’re going to delve into the experiences of one particular abductee/contactee, in order to observe her process of trying to understand and ultimately integrate a lifetime of anomalous encounters with apparent NHI—non-human intelligences. We’re also going to see that deep soul searching unfolding in ongoing dialogue with a therapist particularly well-equipped for this kind of work—a therapist employing a therapeutic approach involving an overlap with the role of a traditional shaman, further shaping those perspectives through the lens of depth psychology.

One reason—among many reasons—why the shamanically-informed perspective can be particularly helpful here, is that it offers a richly nuanced understanding of the potentially transformative role of trauma in—not just these particular anomalous encounters—but in all aspects of human life; ultimately seeing it as a potent gateway to deeper aspects of the self. By now we’re all very familiar with the discombobulating nature of these experiences. It’s a staple of the anomalous encounter, and that’s true whether the event is ultimately understood as being positive, negative or neutral by the experiencer themselves. All that is to say, trauma, to one extent or another, is pretty much a given here.

Considering our ongoing inquiry on Point of Convergence into the intersection between the UFO Phenomenon and what one might call spiritual transformation, a key question emerges: does trauma end up being incidentally used as a portal for non-dual awakening, or is it deliberately brought about to facilitate that process? In other words, is the trauma incidental, or intentional, in service of the desired outcome? What does the body of data suggest is actually going on here? These are precisely the prickly yet particularly pertinent matters that we’ll seek to engage with in this, the 116th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

For those who’ve been working doggedly to see the matter of the UFO Phenomenon grounded in the awareness of the general public, the focus has long been on political engagement. That is to say, the aim has been to have the government disclose what it knows about these mysterious flying objects and the occupants who pilot them. Beyond the exposing of the details of the secrets themselves, the sense has been that only an official announcement from a podium will be sufficient to move this topic solidly into civilization-wide acceptance.

That said, what has—paradoxically—worked in opposition to that goal, has been the nature of the data themselves. Said more plainly, the issue often comes down to the high strangeness that comes part and parcel with people’s interactions with the anomalous phenomena. Simply put, these “inconvenient details” stretch credulity, and thus work against the hope of seeing official acknowledgement followed by societal engagement.

Here though, we should offer a clarifying qualifier. These elements of high strangeness—often bordering on apparent absurdity— only stretch credulity in Western circles. In other contemporaneous societies, as well as in Shamanic and indigenous societies of the past, these elements aren’t at all objectionable. They are, in fact, welcomed within a much more multidimensional model of relational reality.

Even as some disclosure advocates work to sanitize some of the data—so that the overarching Phenomena has a better chance of seeing official acknowledgment and engagement—people within Western society continue to experience the phenomena themselves; in all their inconvenient, paradigm-shattering, discombobulating glory. And this is resulting in what one might call a revolution of sorts, but one bubbling up from below, rather than descending from on high.

This of course includes—not just highly strange UFOs—but every experiential element that refuses to play by the rules of reductionistic materialism. Here I’m also speaking of elements such as synchronicities, altered states, psi phenomena, etc.. Because these elements are being both experienced and documented, they are playing a transformative, grassroots role in steering Western perspectives along more shamanic lines, even without acknowledgment from the ivory towers of our civilization.

What some particularly astute observers have asked is: is this perhaps by design? Is this an end-goal of the enterprise itself, to drop bread crumbs along the way so that a wayward civilization is able to find its way back into a more balanced understanding of its place within the interactive whole? This is a compelling argument; one deserving of a closer examination of just what’s involved. And that’s precisely what we’ll endeavor to do in this the 116th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Those familiar with ufological lore, and especially how it ties into our deep religious history, will tell you that UFOs have been around for as long as we have, and perhaps even longer. Indeed, it has long been acknowledged that the assumed non-human intelligences behind these manifestations may be responsible not only for the inspiration and direction of our most foundational meaning-making models – that is to say, our religious traditions – but also for our very origin as a species.

That being the case, some might find it a stretch to believe that the times we find ourselves in now are somehow unique when it comes to this enigmatic topic: Yes, they’re here, but they always have been, directing affairs mostly in shadow – à la something like Jacques Vallee’s control system hypothesis – so what would be different about now? – or so the thinking goes.

While that’s an understandable perspective to have, and while we should always be on the lookout for bias in our contemporary reading of history, there is indeed compelling evidence to suggest that what we’re seeing with this Phenomenon since the turn of the millennium – and especially over the last few years or so – is indeed worthy of note, suggesting that we may very well be heading towards some crescendo point, where our very relationship to this Phenomenon, and, for that matter, to reality itself, fundamentally changes.

The evidence for this notion arises not just in the increased activity of alien intelligences in our midst – though we have indeed seen a rise in reported accounts of sightings and engagements with the craft apparently piloted by these so-called NHI of late – but also via reports from experiencers, those uniquely tuned into these various alien groups, who have seen visions of imminent changes that speak to the coming of a foundationally different world.

While even these two data points – the increased sightings/interactions and sense from experiencers that something is coming – might not be enough to convince many, these are not the only elements we need to reckon with here. Just as important in this equation is the rising tide of challenges our civilization is presently facing; challenges so daunting that they threaten our very existence.

These matters include climate change, geopolitical conflict rife with ever more catastrophic weapons of mass destruction, and the sudden rise of artificial intelligence. All three of these are particularly troublesome because they are being met by a center of gravity of consciousness still driven by fear, scarcity and what our most ancient and enduring spiritual traditions – not to mention many of these Others – call “the illusion of separation”.

Those familiar with ufological lore will also know that the trajectory we’re presently on as a human, earth-based civilization, is precisely the one that these various non-human (and non-conventionally-human) intelligences have long warned us about. Their historic concern about our ever more technological focus, unmoored from an accompanying increase in our level of consciousness, is central to the messages delivered to humankind via the experiencers we’ve already discussed. Suddenly those warnings and prognostications, going back decades, seem strikingly prescient.

That said, we know that timing is particularly challenging to predict and parse out when it comes to these otherworldly admonitions. And thus, the question still remains: just how pressing are these issues, and just how close are we to some fundamental transformation of life as we have thus far known it? Furthermore, how might the very real march towards official disclosure we’ve seen of late be informed by all of this? These are the very thorny – yet crucial – matters we’ll seek to gain clarity around in this, the 98th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Over the last several episodes of this podcast we’ve been exploring the overlap between religious history, Shamanism and the UFO Phenomenon. In today’s episode we’ll be continuing this line of inquiry by zeroing in on the mystical and transformative aspects of encounters had as part of the modern UFO Phenomenon. Specifically we’ll be considering how the nature of these encounters, had in a seemingly alternate realm or alternate state of consciousness, prompt remarkably consistent and long-lasting worldview changes amongst those who’ve had the experiences.

While some will argue that the ontological shock experienced in interactions with alien beings that are not supposed to exist according to the dictates of conventional thinking is simply that – the result of paradigm-shattering experiences had with often frightening, “bug-like” creatures – a more thoughtful approach might suggest that, to the contrary, the “reality rewrite” that experiencers undergo is not just an unintended side-effect, but a chief aim of the entire enterprise.

Put another way, one can very clearly make the argument that a central mission of these mysterious Others interacting with human beings over time is to “wake us up” to who we truly are, and to how we’re connected to everything and everyone else around us, including myriad beings we have not even yet begun to map onto our collective awareness. Ultimately that “waking up” process is not only about expanding our conceptual categories, but more centrally about cracking open human perception and potential – allowing us to more fully step into our true birthright as powerful, multidimensional beings that are fractal representations of Source consciousness itself.

In the latter part of the 20th century, John Mack, a well-respected professor of psychiatry and head of the department of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School was thrust full-on into these confusing and controversial matters when he began to be sought out by the people who’d had these discombobulating encounters. In taking these accounts seriously, determining that – contrary to mainstream thinking of the time – these accounts were not the result of delusional, damaged minds, Mack played a central role in mainstreaming our culture’s engagement with these challenging issues.

In today’s episode we’ll be considering the observations made by Mack in his ground-breaking book Passport to the Cosmos: Human Transformation and Alien Encounters. By the time Mack penned this book, he was a decade or more into the matter of apparent alien abduction and hybridization, and, having had first-hand exposure not only to Western experiencers, but also to Shamans and those of various indigenous traditions from around the world, he was in a unique position to draw overarching insights from his immersive investigations. In what directions did these investigations take his thinking, and why were his tentative conclusions so utterly unpalatable for conventional, Western society? These are the matters we’ll seek to explore in this, the 97th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

Much of the world has only recently begun to come to grips with the growing evidence emerging in the public sphere suggesting that sophisticated, non-human intelligences are apparently in our midst, buzzing in and around our skies both day and night. This revelation takes the notion that aliens might exist – out there – in the great beyond of outer space, and brings the idea much closer to home. For some, it’s simply too close to home. Truth be told, many people just aren’t prepared to deal with the idea that extra-terrestrial or inter-dimensional beings are not only already here, but may have indeed been here as long – or longer – than we have.

Of course, for those of us more aware of the extensive body of data regarding the UFO Phenomenon, it’s clear that, not only are these intelligences piloting sophisticated craft in the skies above our heads, but they’re are also interacting directly – face to face and up close and personal – with human beings. And we’re not speaking simply of these Others once in a while introducing themselves in the broad light of day. No, they – some of them, anyway – are also conducting apparently clandestine missions to enter people’s homes, passing through solid walls like we might pass through a fine morning mist, and taking people back to their sophisticated craft, or elsewhere, such as some mysterious matrix-like reality that defies easy categorization based on our current understanding of reality.

Notice that I just said “some of them” are conducting these kinds of covert missions, often – it’s important to point out – without the apparent permission or often even knowledge of the people they are taking. I say “some of them” because, truth be told, not only is sophisticated non-human (i.e. alien) intelligence here, but it is here in the plural. And here I’m not referring simply to numbers of the same alien species. No, I’m referring to different alien species altogether. There are so many in fact that one quickly becomes overwhelmed by the sheer variety of alien types apparently in our midst: the short and tall greys, reptilians, mantids, human-like species such as the so-called Nordics and Tall Whites, and many more.

And it’s not just the variety of alien species that can be overwhelming. The kinds of experiences people have with these various Others also vary. Some people have decidedly positive, even spiritually transformative encounters with these Others, from the get-go, while other people have much more traumatic, frightening, and discombobulating experiences. Truth be told, even the positive encounters are usually disorienting in the extreme at first blush. One simply cannot overstate the degree of ontological shock that is involved here, as John Mack made clear in his research with alien contactees/abductees.

Even more complication arises in this already complex, convoluted discussion, when one takes into account how many people eventually grow to see their experiences differently once the initial ontological shock has – to some degree – worn off. Even more confusing, many abductees/contactees find that, at some point during an encounter with these Others, they realize they actually recognize these beings.

Sometimes this recognition tracks back to early childhood, meaning that, for some, these encounters have been ongoing for decades, often without the individual having any conscious memory of this contact. Even more discombobulatingly, for those of us trying to make sense of the contact totality, it becomes clear that some people find that they recognize these beings from some deep sense of a larger, multi-dimensional self that may even track over multiple lifetimes.

Clearly this is a complicated discussion; one that, arguably, cannot be even fully addressed without asking as many questions about who we truly are as who they truly are. Still, with all of this complexity in mind, what can we make of the jungle that is the territory of these Others? This is exactly what we’ll explore in this, the 33rd episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.

For anyone who’s spent any degree of time and energy researching the collective enigma known as the UFO Phenomenon one thing is clear, this topic is as elusive – almost absurdly so – as it is obsessively fascinating. Not only do the manifestations of these phenomena, in and of themselves, tantalize, mesmerize and bewilder anyone who’s paying close attention to the bizarre array of feats performed by the apparently non-humanly crafted aerial vehicles coined “UFOs” or “UAP”, but the way the intelligences behind this phenomenon are able to manipulate human perception and/or experience, only further complicates this already murky – if astonishing and invigorating – subject matter.

Regardless of how someone enters this conversation – whether that be as a result of a personal “nuts n’ bolts” interest in next-gen technology and/or an interaction with an intelligent, non-human biological species, or via a profoundly spiritual personal encounter with entities that are perceived as so superior and “otherworldly” that an expression like “celestial being” seems more appropriate than a blunt and crude term like “alien”, this subject matter quickly expands into a wide-reaching and profound mystery; one that inevitably leads to questions about the very nature of reality itself.

With decades of data now behind us, there have been no shortage of hypotheses put forth to try to explain the nature, meaning, and origin of this phenomenon. Of course, sometimes a particular hypothesis put forward will say as much about the worldview of the group proposing it, as it does the nature of the encounters themselves. And this is of course because – regardless of how discombobulating these experiences can be for witnesses and contactees/abductees – at the end of the day, as with anything, we have to try to make sense of them by slotting them into pre-ordained possibilities dictated by our reality paradigm.

Even when a researcher tries to focus on a singular aspect of the data, often an honest, thorough assessment of reports will quickly lead the inquiry into another area altogether. And that often creates understandable confusion. For instance, oftentimes these events are so complex that one is left wondering if the psychological aspect somehow manifests the apparent physicality, or vice versa.

By way of example, when physical phenomena are observed – that supposedly violate our very notions of physics – of how we assume the world works – we’re left wondering: does this mean our perception is being played with somehow, or that our very understanding of reality is being exposed as woefully incomplete – if not almost wholly misguided?

As mentioned already, over the last several decades a wide variety of hypotheses have been advanced to try to make sense of the UFO Phenomenon. So many possible explanations have emerged, in fact, that any attempt to keep track of the plethora of proposed explanations can in itself be dizzying. That said, one way one can organize these various hypotheses into a digestible and comprehensible whole is to view them from three different “high altitude” perspectives: the psychic, the physical and the transphysical. And that’s exactly the approach we’ll employ to make sense of this enigmatic topic in this, the 25th episode of the Point of Convergence podcast.